The Center Parcs Experience

Cyrus

PhoenixParker wrote: »

That's what the description says.
(Double check before you hit book)

sounds good, ill go with that

thanks!

vargoo

PhoenixParker wrote: »

Housekeeping service is the big difference I think.

Wah? For a week?

You'd want to be a right slob.

donkeykong5

What a pity mosney has gone.!

salmocab

donkeykong5 wrote: »

What a pity mosney has gone.!

I know a lad working there, everything is still there just waiting for you to buy it and re open it. Might need to move on some people first.

CramCycle

Met someone who went and have to say, their review would convince me to go at off peak times. They said the extra things are not hugely necessary as you will spend 80% of your day in the pool area, and it is pretty incredible. Really well put together, really good staff and overall very relaxing.

The only downsides where the restaurants were all booked out when they were there and the takeaway was a 2 hour wait but the food was good. So make sure you bring plenty of your own food and eat in. Teh shop on site is pretty decent and not overpriced, basically like a large Centra/Spar, so not as cheap as a large rtailer but not crazy.

vargoo

CramCycle wrote: »

Met someone who went and have to say, their review would convince me to go at off peak times. They said the extra things are not hugely necessary as you will spend 80% of your day in the pool

I'd have no interest in the pool at all.

Everybody different.

Stone Deaf 4evr

Seeing as this seems (to me anyway) be essentially an Irish version of the traditional french campsite experience I'll post average figures for what that has worked out for me in the past.

Family of 4 - 2 weeks away, travelling in june - just before peak season.

Flights - 1000 - generally 250 per person
Car hire - 280
Campsite - 1100
Spending - 1500 - approx 100 per day, covering a few drinks by the pool, snacks & icecreams, and generally a meal out in the evening with a few drinks, breakfasts would all have been made in the mobile home, and usually we'd do a 'big shop' in an aldi when we arrive that would cover the basics for the two weeks.

thats 3880 for 14 nights away or 69.30 euros per person per day.

I did have a gander at the centerparcs prices and they did seem a little on the steep side, and personally I don't feel like I can relax properly unless I'm out of the country - and oddly enough - away from other irish people - my ideal is to not see a single soul from the ould sod.

NIMAN

Cyrus wrote: »

im going to book for a week next june to see what its like

Do they do week long breaks?

I thought it was 3 or 4 day breaks.

(unless of course you plan to book a 3+4 to make a week?)

salmocab

NIMAN wrote: »

Do they do week long breaks?

I thought it was 3 or 4 day breaks.

(unless of course you plan to book a 3+4 to make a week?)

Yeah you can book a week or two if you want

NIMAN

salmocab wrote: »

Yeah you can book a week or two if you want

Moneybags!!:D

salmocab

NIMAN wrote: »

Moneybags!!:D

Oh I like to summer there

Cloudio9

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

Seeing as this seems (to me anyway) be essentially an Irish version of the traditional french campsite experience

The pool and facilities are well ahead of any continental campsite and I’ve done some of the highest rating ones in France. Obviously you’ll get better weather in France although nothing’s guaranteed weather wise in June in France.

Stone Deaf 4evr

Cloudio9 wrote: »

The pool and facilities are well ahead of any continental campsite and I’ve done some of the highest rating ones in France. Obviously you’ll get better weather in France although nothing’s guaranteed weather wise in June in France.

We go down the south, to the Spanish border, it's been consistently at 27 degrees and hotter for June in the last few years.

Cloudio9

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

We go down the south, to the Spanish border, it's been consistently at 27 degrees and hotter for June in the last few years.

Yeah you’d need to, anywhere other than there is probably not going to be great for an outdoor pool.

My kids are in primary school so June isn’t an option and prices rise pretty steeply in July although first two weeks not as bad as late July when UK schools are off.

How did the above price compare with CP?

CramCycle

vargoo wrote: »

I'd have no interest in the pool at all.

Everybody different.

Which is fair enough, wouldn't be my cuppa tea either, prefer sea swimming but my kids would love it. I would probably be spinning out on the bikes most of the day if it wasn't for the blasted kids :eek: The reason I would pick here would be for the kids, nothing else so whatever suited them.

Fr Tod Umptious

CramCycle wrote: »

Which is fair enough, wouldn't be my cuppa tea either, prefer sea swimming but my kids would love it. I would probably be spinning out on the bikes most of the day if it wasn't for the blasted kids :eek: The reason I would pick here would be for the kids, nothing else so whatever suited them.

Ya see this is the key thing here, it's a holiday camp, holiday camps are primarily targeted at families and kids are a major factor in families.

So if the kids like it nothing else really matters.

Our family go to Trabolgan, my wife and I take a dim enough view of the place, we find it dated, a bit over priced and could do with a face lift.

But that doesn't matter because the kids love it, and we will continue to go to Trabolgan, or CP, as long as the kids love it.

griffin100

Was there last week, it's an amazing place for kids. Full of normal families with small kids and babies for whom the foreign travel thing can be a nightmare. It was close to being full when we were there but it never felt crowded as it's so big.

We arrived at 11am and there was no queue to enter, took 2 minutes to register and then parked the car and went to the pool. At 3pm drove car into the park and unloaded everything. On leaving day you have to be out of the house at 10am so we packed up, parked the car, and then stayed in the pool until well after lunch. Other than booking in and departure days your car can't come into the parc (unless you have a disabled badge).

We booked the cheapest 3 bed woodland lodge and it was great, loads of room and really well kitted out. Everything is still so new. You have to watch the prices though, when we were looking at booking the price was constantly changing and it had dropped by €300 between the morning and the evening when we booked.

Bikes are a must, either bring your own or rent them, otherwise everything is a 5-10 minute walk away. The kids loved the freedom of being able to cycle everywhere on their own with no traffic. Even my wife cycled for the first time in years! Whenever we had any downtime the kids hoped back on their bikes and went exploring / chasing other kids. There are bikes everywhere.

The activities range in price, we booked a few before we got there and a couple more when we arrived. By midweek most of the popular activities had been booked out so don't leave it too late. We did bowling, indoor climbing (brilliant), high ropes (bigger kids), lower ropes (small kids) and various canoeing (great craic). My 15 year old loved the high ropes with the zip line, all of them loved the indoor climbing wall. You don't need to try and fill your day with activities as you'll spend a lot of time in the pool.

The pool itself is smaller than I expected but was brilliant. We were in Siam Park last year and I thought the kids would be unimpressed but they loved it. There are three indoor rides / chutes and the rapids outside. I am still black and blue from going down the rapids.

Food wise you keep the costs down and eat in your lodge. We filled the roof box with food and had breakfast and lunch in the house every day. We BBQ'ed one night and ate in the restaurants on three nights. You will need to book a restaurant in advance or else eat at the Sports Bar which is not bookable so can get really busy. Food was for the most part ok to good, although a bit ropey in the Pancake House. Price wise its fairly typical of what we would pay normally for a meal for 6 (three of my feckin kids eat adult portions now!). I did see some complaints about service and food when we were there but we were happy enough (except the Pancake House).

There are bars in all of the restaurants and by the pool but the Sports Bar is the main one and it stops serving at 11pm, so by late evening the place is really quite.

If you want a drinking all day lounging by the pool holiday it's probably not for you. However if you're looking for a holiday that will keep the kids busy and is easy to get to then I'd recommend it. My kids said it was better than their holiday in Tenereife last year.

Monokne

Good, informative & helpful post Griffin100!

appledrop

There seems to be good few negative threads on trip advisor regarding the restaurants. Some people couldn't get a table at any restaurant.

What amazes me here is about how people here are going on + on about how much hassle foreign holidays are yet in my eyes all I see with CP is hassle. All activities have to be pre booked, all restaurants it seems have to be pre booked. You have hassle of loading car , unloading etc. Just not for me. We have a toddler + he is no bother bringing away on holidays. He loves the plane more than I do actually! We never go for flights at mad hours always daytime.

When we go on holidays we go to relax + love nothing more somedays then staying by the pool/ beach with our toddler. If we feel like doing something then we will + similar will eat out when + where we want. We spend most of year on schedules, running around etc who wants that on holidays. I also don't fancy spending the day in indoor chlorinated pool + meeting half the country in my swimsuit! Not my idea of fun.

scudzilla

We came home yesterday after a 4 day break and it was awesome, we were in an executive lodge with games room, hot tub, sauna and steam room (friends wanted it and said they'd pay the extra so bonus for us)

Whole experience was awesome, little one did the Crazy Science and Pottery painting which she loved.

The pool area was amazing, the rapids nearly brained me twice and the little one loved it all.

Ate in all nights as stopped in tesco on way down, although we did go into pancake house at mrs scuds request, wasn't great, i had the banofee pancakes and in total was about half a banana, they had quite a few things out of stock as apparently the delivery was messed up.

We've booked to go back for a 4 night break in April, 7 of us (4 adults, 3 kids) for 499 which at 125 a night for 7 is pretty good. We also chose our lodge for an extra 55 so only a 2 min walk away from the village centre.

As you drive in there are huge boulders on side of grass, on Monday afternoon, on a bend at entrance, there was a mini that had mounted one, caused some damage alright, how they managed it fcuk only knows.

Staff are all bang on, really pleasant and the other guests there all seemed decent, none of your scumbag types, guess thats because they're lodges and not caravans :rolleyes:

Fr Tod Umptious

Interesting trend developing here.

The reviews from people who have been tend to be both detailed and mainly positive.

Opinions from people who have not seem to remain cynical and negative.

salmocab

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Interesting trend developing here.

The reviews from people who have been tend to be both detailed and mainly positive.

Opinions from people who have not seem to remain cynical and negative.

Some people set themselves against it from the get go, for whatever reason. Some don’t think it’s for them which is fine but they thumb their noses at those who do. I think quite a few people scoffed at the idea of what and where it was and became entrenched in that and were never going to see the good in it.
It’s not something that particularly appeals to me instead of a sun holiday but I’m definitely going to try to get a long weekend there before next summer.

Fr Tod Umptious

salmocab wrote: »

Some people set themselves against it from the get go, for whatever reason. Some don’t think it’s for them which is fine but they thumb their noses at those who do. I think quite a few people scoffed at the idea of what and where it was and became entrenched in that and were never going to see the good in it.
It’s not something that particularly appeals to me instead of a sun holiday but I’m definitely going to try to get a long weekend there before next summer.

I think it's a reflection of the general sense of cynicism and negativity we get on boards and particularly in AH.

dazed+confused

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

I think it's a reflection of the general sense of cynicism and negativity we get on boards and particularly in AH.

Yep, people knocking things either because it's not to their personal taste or they can't afford to do it themselves.

Supertoucher

We spent the last week from Monday to Friday in Longford Centerparcs and had a great time.

We have three children under the age of 4 and so we are of the model where flying to anywhere hot is going to be an ordeal, so this was seemed like a good option for us to try,

We paid around 600 euro for the Monday to Friday stay for the Woodland lodge (Two twin, one double with en suite).

We turned up later than we would have liked because of getting the kids ready! (we wanted to get there earlier to have a wander around before check in, but incidentally arrived around check in time) but were only queuing for about 10-15 minutes. Entry staff were incredibly friendly.

We received our "keys" which are waterproof rubber bracelets with a chip in which unlock the cabin door and also function as locker keys for the swimming pool which is a great idea. Mine never left my wrist for the week, so no forgetting it!

The demographic of visitors is definitely children-centric and pretty much everyone is there with their kids, however, I don't recall becoming frustrated too often except for some poor parenting in the pool (One family with kids running, pushing past other children, skipping queues for the slides, going the wrong way up slides etc. and parents did nothing) which the lifeguards were pretty quick to deal with.

I did remark to my wife that it would provide a pretty good location for a lads/girls holiday (with a few caveats and being tolerant of other peoples kids!).

Cabin:

Spacious, and flexible with decent facilities for cooking. Safe provided - ours was locked upon arrival but security arrived very quickly (5 mins) to reset. Of note was that we asked for bedguards for the kids but they had ran out - so if you need them order quick. The cabins are obviously new so everything was in good condition. Shower/bath facilities were in good condition with decent water pressure. Cabin was warm and although I brought firelogs - never used them as it would have been too warm. Towels were provided as were tea and coffee (Tassimo).

Barbecue area was decent and enclosed, and although weather was never quite good enough to eat outside - we did have a BBQ once and it was fine. The cabin we were in were joined on both sides but we never once had an issue with noise leakage. The layout is well designed so that your living space borders on to mainly next door's kitchen and bathroom areas so generally very quiet. BBQ area was closed off from next door's view due to design so good privacy.

A couple of minor points were that as it was generally warm in and out of the cabin, and we couldn't dry swimming togs on the towel rails without turning the heating on and making the temperature uncomfortable.

Also the duvets were far too heavy (warm) for this time of year - we had to strip the cover off and use it as a sheet.

General grounds:

We were 10 mins from the swimming complex and due to the age of the children, we did not bother with bikes, which was a shame in some regards and something I would revisit when they are older. The grounds are tidy, quiet with bins nearby. Care was needed when walking to be aware of cyclists and the electric cars the staff used. No real problems though.

I hate it when places are packed but I never felt it was too busy across the week - in fact it was really comfortable.

Wasps appear to be an issue, particularly around bins, but we only had a couple of instances of them being a nuisance, and management have put plenty of traps up to deal with this.

Landscaping is clearly a bit of a work in progress, fine for the most part but you can see new grass is growing in places, and the landscaping can be rough -but in a year this will be a complete non-issue and did not affect our stay. They was clearly groundmen working away on several occasions.

Activities:

We didn't do too many activities, mainly due to the age of the kids, but we did take a boat out on the lake which was good. Didn't book and no queue. Staff were accommodating when we ran into an family issue. We did the aerial adventure and this was a great experience. Paul and Shane and the other team were great fun, very enthusiastic and deserve a lot of credit for providing a great experience. As others have said - the swimming complex will take up a lot of time and really I couldn't foresee us doing more than 2-3 activities outside this.

Bowling was generally fun although I did have a questionable interaction with a member of staff in here over a observation I made to make things better for the future (I.e. not really a complaint) that although they weren't outwardly rude, their demeanour was a bit combative and had a response for everything, and the encounter left a bad taste in my mouth over something really quite trivial.

Swimming Complex:

Well designed and hassle free - The swimming complex is the jewel in the crown and as it is included, we spent every day there to some extent. Plenty to do spread across different ages.

Changing facilities were a little busy but never had to wait more than a minute or two. A few idiots opted to leave their belongings in the family cubicles for some reason on several occasions, despite having generous and free lockers - this was annoying. The family changing cubicles have two doors - one for the exit and one for the pool with a single bar to lock - a system which works really well.

The main pool seems small but was never busy enough for it to be an issue. The intermittent (think every 30 mins or so?) wave machine is pretty mild and not problematic for young kids as long as you have flotation aids or are holding them. Easy river was a little on the small side but I guess they need to make sure it can be monitored.

The rapids section that goes outside is a bit of a weird one that has a bit of an identity crisis. It sort of lends itself to being best used to either being on a inflatable ring or something, or being tackled head first, but i'm not sure if inflatables are allowed on it (I never saw any) and you are explicitly told to go feet first, which doesn't seem to work well at all. The sections are divided up by underwater walls which you have to climb over to progress and going feet first makes things harder and isn't intuitive. You also tend to stop in places because there is no current and even get sucked backwards on some corners, which completely stops the flow, and your instinct is to swim forwards (I.e. head first) to get going again, which you aren't supposed to do. It's still loads of fun, but definitely needs some rethinking by the design guys.

The flumes are good fun, if a little short. The shortest one does not require an inflatable ring. There was a problem with the traffic light system when I went on it - you are supposed to wait for a green light before setting off - but something went wrong and it stayed on red for me indefinitely. It was only down to a girl going down the stairs and asking a lifeguard who said "just wait 40 seconds and go" which is all very well - but the last thing you want to be doing is sliding into a potential accident below! However, I let the girl go ahead as she was decent enough to have gone down to the lifeguard and it appeared to reset the traffic lights somehow.

Middle flume requires a single ring inflatable and is manned by a lifeguard and was good fun.

Unfortunately we never had a turn on the biggest 4 person flume as you needed a minimum of 2 people on it and the session was quiet, and one of us had to watch the kids. The lifeguard on duty said to my wife that she'd happily go on it with her in her lunch break, which we thought was a really thoughtful offer but she'd never infringe on her lunch break!

There is a good kid section which has warmer water, water toys and plenty of of slides. This was very good for kids under 5. There was a problem with the traffic lights on the slides here - unlike the other slides there two lights - a red one and a second green light - however, the green lights never come on. The red lights went out after a while which is apparently your cue to go. No problem with this, but tricky to ask/teach our young son to wait for a green light on some slides, but no red light was ok on some slides and not others - so a bit inconsistent.

Again some minor points were that some lockers didn't appear to work and it was only apparent after you'd chucked your stuff in the locker that your wristband wouldn't lock the door - so my advice is check the door locks before putting your stuff in!

Similarly the occupied/vacant indicators on the family changing rooms were largely broken (didn't change when you locked the door), so you largely had to push doors to see if anyone was inside - again not a big problem.

Restaurants:

Meals were pretty good overall, with decent beer/ale at Dublin prices (5.50-6.00 euro on average per pint for brands such as Blue Moon, Chieftain IPA). Places weren't too busy but we were eating early due to the kids (6pm) Turnaround times for tables are high because kids in general were making a big mess - especially in the pancake house. Booking is a must where possible (can't book at the pancake house however).

The Indian place did appear to be slightly understaffed on the floor ,but the server did keep us updated and was reasonably attentive. One of the side dishes didn't arrive but not a problem as we were full anyhow. Main meal was good but expensive (18 quid) and didn't come with rice (4-5 Euro) which I felt was expensive for rice!. We were told that one portion of rice would be enough for two people but I would definitely dispute that, however when we ordered more rice, we weren't charged for it - not sure whether that was intentional. The cocktail we had was nice (2 for 13 euro)

Hucks was the other restaurant we went to and the food was again good. Service was polite and attentive despite us having a challenging meal with the kids on this occasion. Portion sizes were decent, and Steak was cooked nicely. Wings were hot (spicy)!

The pancake house was good and the food was tasty but expensive - 33 euro for two adults and one kids dish (shared). This place seemed to particularly suffer from messy kids and food was everywhere and the staff seemed to struggle despite trying hard. This isn't a criticism of the staff - seemed to be how it would always be! Free baby food in here.

Sports bar we only drifted in and out of between doing things. Food was ok but didnt have much to eat in here. Good play areas and a lot of the activities are in this building. Pool and snooker tables are in here as well as squash and badminton courts. Lots of screens with good sports coverage of golf/cricket/football/motorsport/x games etc. Free baby food in here also.

Shop:

Shop is on the expensive side - as others have said, like a large Centra with Petrol Station pricing. They have a few "gotcha" items such as BBQ's which are expensive at 6 euro. Whereas it is expensive, it's not unexpected for a captive market and you should be bringing your core groceries with you.

Checking out and leaving wasn't an issue, but we opted to stay on for a bit (as long as you are out of your cabin by 10am, you can potter about) on the last day and so we weren't caught in any rush so can't comment on queues etc.

We did have another odd interaction when leaving the cabin - this time with the cleaner as we were slightly late leaving (our fault). We had made an effort to clean up as much as possible - especially ensuring we did the washing up and that we cleaned the kitchen area, but the cleaner was vocally annoyed upon discovering that we hadn't cleaned the grill (which we had actually intended but had just forgotten to do), I have no idea if the onus was on us to do so - I.e. whether it's written in the term of use, but i've never been "told off" by cleaning staff in accommodation before! However, it was a fair cop so my wife and I just smiled at each other, apologised to her and left.

Summary

I hope the above doesn't read too much like a criticism as we thoroughly enjoyed our stay, and have even booked next year already. It's easy to dwell on the negatives, and it's easy to forget that this place has only been open a couple of months. A lot of issues identified were already being worked on which is nice to see, and many issues were teething in nature and you're always going to have some staff who might be a bit odd to deal with. All in all, i'd give it 8.5 out of 10 and we'll be looking forward to out next visit. Hope this helps.

Plopsu

Spot on with the duvet Supertoucher. I spent the first night under a towel, instead.

facehugger99

Supertoucher wrote: »

. A few idiots opted to leave their belongings in the family cubicles for some reason on several occasions, despite having generous and free lockers - this was annoying.

It's totally acceptable to fcuk their stuff on the wet floor.

It teaches them a valuable lesson on how not to be an ignorant prick.

Monokne

Supertoucher wrote: »

We did have another odd interaction when leaving the cabin - this time with the cleaner as we were slightly late leaving (our fault). We had made an effort to clean up as much as possible - especially ensuring we did the washing up and that we cleaned the kitchen area, but the cleaner was vocally annoyed upon discovering that we hadn't cleaned the grill (which we had actually intended but had just forgotten to do), I have no idea if the onus was on us to do so - I.e. whether it's written in the term of use, but i've never been "told off" by cleaning staff in accommodation before! However, it was a fair cop so my wife and I just smiled at each other, apologised to her and left.

The onus definitely isn't on you to clean up that type of thing. I have stayed in Center Parcs a number of times and while I make an effort to leave the place presentable - as it sounds you did - it still needs cleaning & I've never had anyone moan at me. Perhaps she was just having a bad day!:)

FFVII

Monokne wrote: »

The onus definitely isn't on you to clean up that type of thing. I have stayed in Center Parcs a number of times and while I make an effort to leave the place presentable - as it sounds you did - it still needs cleaning & I've never had anyone moan at me. Perhaps she was just having a bad day!:)

Pressure I'd say.

They've been advertising the cleaning jobs every few days since opening, I can imagine the sort of stupidity staff have to put up with and by the ads, looks like not many are.

OwaynOTT

facehugger99 wrote: »

It's totally acceptable to fcuk their stuff on the wet floor.

It teaches them a valuable lesson on how not to be an ignorant prick.

I misread 'stuff' as staff! :pac: